Do It Yourself Bankruptcy..Anyone done it??

You can do it on your own - the only recommendation I can make is to be VERY careful about dotting all the "i"s and crossing all the "t"s in doing it. One slip up and the trustee can reject your case.

I looked at it, and decided that hiring an attorney was a better choice. It cost about $1200 more, but I can make the payments over time. And it keeps the collectors off my back while I make the payments to the lawyer. It is a good thing, because there are already a couple of things that I found out I would have done wrong. It is worth it to me to have the peace of mind of knowing that I have someone with experience to advise me through the process.

Can you make payments to your attorney? Most Chapter 7 attorney's in my area make you pay it all up front because you can include it in the BK.

Yep. My attorney took a small retainer, and is letting me make payments for the balance. And not a set schedule. His reccomnedation is to pay every month, whatever you can. The possible downside is that if I discharge him, he keeps any fees that he has already received. For the most part, I am paying his to field the collector calls.

Bankruptcy courts are very helpful to those filing Pro Se. Just as when you file with an Attorney, if you leave out a form or crucial information, they will contact you by mail to let you know you need to fix or turn in an additional document. Bankruptcy courts let you file Pro Se for the simple reason that it is not that difficult. If you have a simple case that is basic and not full of complex matters with creditors, I would recommend filing Pro Se and saving yourself the attorney fees and take pride in having done it yourself. You probably need at least average to above average intelligence to get through the paperwork.

I did pro se also. The federal courts website had everything I needed. I took everything to the courthouse and they filed it for me and even went through it before I left to make sure I had everything they needed to file. I've gotten a couple letters from the court asking for other docs but that's no big deal either. So far so good......